


Heartwood

by demon_dream



Series: Like the Desert needs Rain [2]
Category: Boku no Hero Academia
Genre: Aizawa has the patience of a saint, Gen, Hiding, LTDNR: Lightning Bird Arc, Like The Desert Needs Rain AU, M/M, Parent-Child Relationship, Shinsou doesn't know how to people, emotional damage and baggage, read between the lines, snapshot, tired son and tired dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-05-30 07:41:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15092216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demon_dream/pseuds/demon_dream
Summary: Sometimes people are too much, and the only logical thing to do is run.Aizawa is wise to the ways of exhausting children. Mostly he's just tired and wants some supper, and family means prying your wayward son out of a tree so you can feed him. That's his reasoning and he's sticking with it.





	Heartwood

   Shinsou had a way of... vanishing, when he wasn't summoned. Rather like a ghost.  
   The second son of the Yuuei clan technically wasn't supposed to wander the scrublands in search of his erstwhile heir. He also technically wasn't supposed to take the _mugawe_ path, or dance the _khekhapa_ (when he danced at all), or make his own food (what an impractical rule). Aizawa was of the opinion that technicalities were hardly laws, and sometimes it was best to let sleeping lions lie.  
   The lion being himself.  
   Thankfully, his son had a terrible habit of being predictable. He would break him of it, but then Shinsou would probably fade into the night and never be seen again by mortal men. Shuffling through a patch of dry grass, Aizawa tipped his head up to eye the blasted tree leaning out over a bend in the village creek.  
   Wind tickled at the few bits of green clinging to the trunk, jagged wood reaching up to claw mutely at the gently drifting sky. The faded bark was smooth with age and weather, a deep blackness yawning through a hungry crack in the middle. The dirt at the base had been trampled flat, and he could just see the print of bare toes in the dust.  
Hands tucked behind his back, Aizawa circled the tree at a fair distance, waiting.  
   Shinsou undoubtedly knew he was here. The question was whether he would creep from his perch without prompting. Aizawa made sure to crunch a dead bit of scrub loudly beneath his foot, slow and firm. He glanced up at the horizon idly, and sighed.  
   No reaction from the lightning-struck tree.  
   He would have growled, but he couldn't muster any real irritation to back it. Wandering back to the tree, close enough to smell the parched wood and sun-baked dust, he looked into the shadowy crevice and blinked slowly.  
   "Shinsou. It's late."  
   He was starting to wonder if he was talking to air, but he caught a hint of low breath, echoed rustling. No eyes in the dark to meet his. Aizawa carefully avoided commands, ordinarily. Shinsou was a bit difficult about them, spite his first instinct rather than respect. Sometimes it was very tempting to forget that. Sometimes, Aizawa paid particular attention to remembering.  
   Putting a calloused hand on the day-warmed wood, he listened to the cool trickle of the creek and the wind in the tallgrass. When Shinsou didn't respond to the intrusion, Aizawa closed his eyes for a long second, then ducked under the weathered hole in the tree and stared hard into the trunk.  
   Up towards the skyward mouth of the hollow trunk a skinny boy was huddled in the half-light, braced against the sides and blinking like a sleepless owl. His hair was a wild disaster meticulously kept free of debris, and his lips were pressed in a tight line over his teeth. Behind him through the gaping hole of the trunk, the clouds were starting to stain purple with dusk.  
   They looked at each other for a long minute, unspoken weight in Aizawa's presence and closing Shinsou's throat. It was always uncomfortable, prying the boy out of his hidey-holes. Aizawa was the second son of the Yuuei chieftain, barred nowhere within tribe lands, but something about this scrap of a kid made intruding into his space almost sacrilegious. It was... unusual, but recognizable. Aizawa just wasn't used to being on the receiving end of this. He wasn't used to giving warmth either, and in the face of this it was very nearly too frustrating to try. But he would. That was the exhaustion talking.  
   "Having fun?"  
   The boy didn't react that he could see. No rustling, not a blink, not even any breeze to flick at his hair. A very complete sort of silence. "...not really."  
   Aizawa was far too tired, and far too accustomed to this. "Hizashi will have fun with our dinner if we don't stop him."  
   A small huff echoed in the trunk, barely louder than shifting smoke. "Sounds worrying."  
   Aizawa hummed lowly in reply, and ducked a little further into the tree. Shadows flicked across Shinsou's face, something like a smile, but he was slipping down the bore of the trunk before it settled on his face. Thin arms closed tightly around Aizawa's weary shoulders, and he swung them both into the open with ease of long practice. The boy stepped back a bit to catch his footing, and Aizawa watched the purple-gold dusk settle on his son's hunger-sharp features.  
   Bloodshot eyes met bloodshot eyes calmly for a moment, before Shinsou turned to lead the way back to camp with thin shoulders held high.  
   Unseen, Aizawa's ill-used smile flashed in the fading sunlight, and made itself at home as he followed his boy back to camp.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still figuring out pronouns and vocabulary, they might be edited once I get a better grasp of the subject.  
> Mugawe: a member of a tribe born male who fulfills the role of a woman, often given religious duties.  
> khekhapa: the style of dance performed by Lobedu women.
> 
> Yeah, Aizawa walks the middle path. He's a bit more on the spiritual side of the spectrum, in tune with the ancestors and local spirits. Second heir to the Yuuei clan. The first heir is a lot less... contemplative, and a lives lot more in the present.  
> Aizawa, as a man of wealth and power, can afford to marry another man. This is not a typical arrangement, but it is allowed for by tradition. His whole situation is a bit complicated, but the chief is a first-class meddler who want the best for his sons.  
> Adopted children take on the family name of their parents. Blood connection is of equal value, and there is no difference between the two where family lines are concerned. Passing on the family name is what's important.  
> Shinsou's adoption was a bit of a bad time all around, and while Aizawa isn't the most emotional man he's very aware of this. In this snapshot, they're still adjusting to each other, and Shinsou is still adjusting to free air.


End file.
